Is it really a tour if you can sleep at home?
Twin Falls was awesome, Missoula was cool, Seattle/Tacoma sucked huge sweaty balls. If you can try to check one of the three remaining shows. Do it because you like our band, but also do it because Mourningstar and Top Of The Fair are both 2000 miles from home and both are having major van troubles. Last nights 10 hour drive to a cancelled show didn’t help. Every person through the door and every cd/shirt purchase helps more than you’d ever know.
Show Journal 2006-09-13
Day 4 – Off to Seattle and another 500 mile day. It started off in peculiar fashion as we chose to dine at Fuddrucker’s for our first meal. Bad idea. The drive through Montana was really windy which sucks when your van is 11 feet tall. It was also really hazy due to all the forest fires. Or was it Justin’s feet? Anyway, the day was going well enough until we crossed into Idaho and got a call from the promoter saying the show needed to be moved. What? Huh? Wouldn’t an earlier notice have been helpful? We’re not sure what happened but it sound sketchy all the way around. He said the club cheated him out of some money and he didn’t feel comfortable having us play there. The club said the promoter never confirmed the show and was told never to book there again. I don’t really care who’s fault it was but I knew there were three band all of whom had driven 10 hours each to get there. Meanwhile I have to convey this to two other bands via phone and text message in an area of limited cell coverage. We’re doing this and we find out Mourningstar is broken down and never made it out of Missoula. They are skipping the show and headed to Portland. Ughh. Meanwhile the promoter calls and says he got us a show in Tacoma but it starts at 6:30 which means we will be pulling up, unloading and playing. Still better than nothing right? We start calling our friends saying “it’s not at 9:30 in Seattle, it’s now 6:30 in Tacoma”. Needless to say our friends one by one say thanks but no thanks. Dammit. While this is happening we are trying to contact Top Of The Fair and tell them what’s up and try to talk some friend into updating our MySpace page with the new info. Seemed pointless to do this for a show that was happening in 2 hours. The drive through the Cascades was incredible looking but I barely got to look as I spent the last 3 hours calling and text messaging non stop trying to get everyone co-ordinated. Thank god for Dave calling some people or I would have had an aneurysm. Anyway, we get to the club and there is about 6 drunks at a bar and no bands, no promoters and no sound folks in sight. Great. Eventually Tizzle and 3 of her friends showed up which was cool since at least someone would have wanted to see us. Right as this is happening we get a call from Top Of The Fair who’s alternator just died and their van is DOA on the side of the highway. This night is getting better and better. So now here we are at this lame looking show, neither of the touring bands are going to make it, none of our friends are going to make it (aside from Tizzle and crew), and it’s only 7:00. We looked at each other and just said fuck it. We thanked the promoter for trying to accommodate us, packed up and just drove home. The whole afternoon sucked ass. Do you remember when we drive all the way to LA for a cancelled show? That trip was more fun than today.
Show Journal 2006-09-12
Day 3 – For day two in Missoula we headed out to a local restaurant called ‘Food For Thought’ for what we were promised was the best breakfast burrito that we came to discover they were no longer served. We ate and wandered around Missoula eventually winding up in yet another Army surplus store. Sigh. Justin insisted we get a Frisbee and go hang in a park so that’s what we did. Justin nearly split a little dog in half with the disc, but other than that it was fun. We got yet another home cooked meal and we can’t thank Marty and his wife enough for their hospitality. We finally got to play tonight which was nice, since three days had gone by and we had only plated for 25 minutes so far. The show was in an Elks lodge. Turns out the sound guy did our sound last time we played in Missoula back in 1998 and he remembered the band we played with. Weird. They show was pretty good considering it was booked on 3 weeks notice. The local band was great. Very talented for being in high school. Mourning star and TOTF performed admirably and sounded good. There were a few rowdy folks up front that really cleared the room during our set, but I’ll take it. After the show all three bands (14 people) headed to Marty’s to crash. I tried to sleep in the van but slept poorly.
Show Journal 2006-09-11
Day 2 – This morning we got up, got breakfast and headed off the Missoula. At some point we got suckered into entering “Idaho’s largest Army surplus store” by Dave. It was kind of boring but we literally didn’t have anything to do until tomorrow night so no one complained. We maximized Justin’s investment into an iPod radio adapter and dug deep into my collection with bad 80’s and questionable hip hop choices. The phrase “try and catch me ridin dirty” has come out of my mouth at least 100 times since this drive. Eventually we arrived in Missoula to stay with our friend Marty whom we’ve known for years. He booked our very first out of town Portland show for us back in 1997 in his garage. He has been friends with Dustin for even longer so it was good to see a familiar face. Their house was rad and they made us some of the best hamburgers I’ve ever had. We ended playing his Xbox until about 2 AM. At this point Dustin got sick of losing and decided to challenge Justing to a Greco-roman wrestling match. That was the sign to call in a night.
Show Journal 2006-09-10
Day 1 – I’m reluctant to even call this a tour since we’ll be home in 5 days. The drive started off in typical fashion, bad music with Fat Boys style freestlye thrown in by all. At some point Dustin busted out a Billy Ocean CD and proceeded to rock out behind the wheel. I’m tempted to call him the Caribbean Queen from here on out. Gas prices are insane. Fill up’s are around $90 which isn’t going to be very kind on our wallets. The weather was perfect about 80 degrees and no clouds in the sky. Typically when we drive this way it’s after work in the dark and in rainy conditions so it’s nice to look around. At some point there was a bad smell of burning electronics and plastic but we haven’t located it so far. Eventually we rolled into Twin Falls and stopped to check out the Snake River Canyon. There is a little memorial indicating that this is where Evel Knievel attempted his mile long jump but no success. We did see a bunch of people base jump off the bridge which was way cool. We pulled up to the venue and it had the sketchiest loading area ever. The back dock was full of rusty nails and teetering hand rails. Good thing my tetanus shot is current. This was the first time we got to meet Top Of The Fair and Morningstar and we did our introductions even though I know I won’t possibly get everyone’s name. The opening band was pretty cool. They were call Trinomikon and played a very Tiger Army-ish punk and rockabilly set. Not bad for being so young. We played second and I think we rocked it. The kids started a pit and sang along where they could even through no one had ever seen or heard of us before. Totally fun. Mourningstar was up next and they were great. The guitar player fell through the stage so you know you are rocking when you break the ground upon which you stand. Top Of The Fair was up last and sounded great as well. We’ve got our work cut out for us if we have to follow them this whole week. All four bands wrapped up in under 2 and a half hours so we had lots of time to kill. After the show we would up going to Shari’s and eventually decided to just get a hotel. Normally we just sleep in the van to save money and time, but since there wasn’t a show the next day we heeded the call of the $45 motel.
Show Journal 2006-09-08
Small venue, small turnout and lots of fun. Ironically enough we talked at great length on the drive down about how people ask us “why do we waste our time on these small shows” or “why do we play in towns that won’t really help get you signed”. This show was a perfect example of why we do it. You get to play for people that want to see a show and have fun, and we get to bring along two friend’s bands to see play. Hanging out, seeing bands, playing music, what’s not to love about that? I love playing big shows with big bands, but to do this for as long as we have you gotta enjoy playing to 25 people in a basement too. This was one of those shows. Go Get The Scissors came down from Olympia for the show and did really well. I wish a few more people were there to see them but they sounded great. Eat Your Heart Out was second was up second and was a night and day difference from the last time I saw them. Of course last time was their very first show ever so there’s only way to go from there. They seemed so much more at ease up there and really have found their own sound. Our set was fun. Some people knew the words and that’s a plus. It’s worth mentioning that Dustin’s grandma came to the show which makes here the coolest grandma ever. Thanks to Zelan and everyone else who helps make shows at Outpost happen.
Some record labels actually do things.
Well, we’re getting ready to leave to play the NW dates of the New School Records tour. Should be cool and we’re stoked to meet the other bands. If you are in the NW try and check out a show!
Shows outside of Portland?
Not much new here. Played a few shows last week so thanks to those who checked them out. Next shows should be in September for a few dates on the still evolving New School Records tour.
Show Journal 2006-07-29
Well, not nearly the same crowd as our last trip to Salem, but the show was every bit as fun. The Hornswogglers were up first and sadly I missed them as Justin and I made a run for food. It took forever to find something which is ironic seeing that it was “The Bite of Salem” that night. What’s with that term anyway? Why does every town have “A Taste” or “A Bite”? How about calling it what it really is … “the night people use as a catalyst for drunken fights on the city streets of Salem”. Anyway, we did get back in time to see BXF who sounded pretty damn tough. The slower song (‘voice’?) sounded particularly impressive in the cozy confines of the basement. It’s always cool seeing someone who can really belt out a song up so close. We were up third and chose to play a set of songs we never play live. Why? No idea, just seemed like a good idea. Some selections included Destination Space, Holiday, Everybody, Beachhead and even Get In The Van. There were 10 oldies in there and it’s safe to say it had been years since we performed most of them. In fact I don’t think Justin has ever even played Holiday live and I know Dustin has touched a few of them outside the practice space. We had a good time playing them (mistakes and all) but it was easy to tell why they aren’t the crowd pleasers as people’s energy level drained quickly after a few songs. Still with only 30 people in attendance (most of whom we knew) it was all good. Kill The Kids were last and sounded great despite the lack of their singer. I meant to ask what happened but forgot. Oh well. Giving the crowd a microphone is always a scary move, but everyone there knew all the words so they wound up having about a dozen singers. With the exception of the song where Justin accompanied them on cowbell it was a cool show. Thanks to Andy, The Sip, KTK, BXF, the Hornswogglers and Salem P.D. for the advice on what the ticketing laws are for public sidewalks. Happy birthday Derek and thanks for the invite to play!
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